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Help w/ backup to save recordings

I have a Hughes S2 DirecTivo that I added an 80gb drive to. It has been acting flaky as the signal hiccups/freezes for a few seconds constantly. It even does it on shows that were previously recorded and have played fine before.

The main original drive was a Maxtor and the one I added is a Western Digital. Any tools I can use that will search for errors (fix or disable those sectors?). Anyway to create a backup of the entire drives (recordings and all) and then restore it on to the drives again? Or maybe even just restore it all to the single 80 gb one and not use the Maxtor anymore?

I've been looking at the guide but I'm still not quite understanding how I can achieve it unless I have an extra hard-drive to use in the mix.

All of the options outlining keeping recordings seem to indicate doing a "drive-copy". If I want to copy what's on A+B to restore all onto the current B and make it A it seems like I would need a C (large enough to hold the info. from A+B temporarily) in the mix, as well.

I have a hard-drive in the computer I'll be using but it's just a 8gb drive. I didn't know if the utility would compress it or what. I just don't have a spare drive that exceed the 120 gigs that the current A(80gb)+B(40gb) hold (though I've probably only got 30 hours of content on there).

I believe I've read where you can use Sleeper's ISO on a drive and preserve your original recordings (albeit scrambled and unable to extract & burn to DVD). But could I extract them and copy them to my other sleepers'd unit for viewing?

In order to transfer & play scrambled recordings from one Tivo to another, you have to also backup the DiskConfigurationKey (DC_key.xml) from the original Tivo and restore it on the target Tivo. This thread contains instructions.

Keep in mind that if you already have some scrambled recordings on the target Tivo, you'll have to swap the correct DC_key in & out each time you switch from watching a moved recording to one that was made on that Tivo, & vice versa.

I have a Hughes S2 DirecTivo that I added an 80gb drive to. It has been acting flaky as the signal hiccups/freezes for a few seconds constantly. It even does it on shows that were previously recorded and have played fine before.

The main original drive was a Maxtor and the one I added is a Western Digital. Any tools I can use that will search for errors (fix or disable those sectors?). Anyway to create a backup of the entire drives (recordings and all) and then restore it on to the drives again? Or maybe even just restore it all to the single 80 gb one and not use the Maxtor anymore?

I feel your pain - I'm facing a similar problem (my HDVR2 is reporting an unreadable sector as it boots). The first step would be to go to the Maxtor and Western Digital web sites and download the latest diagnostic tools for your drives. Run them, and specify you want to do a NONDESTRUCTIVE surface analysis. It MIGHT be able to relocate the bad sector. If this fixes the problem, buy a new drive and replace the one that had failed.

PlainBill

There's a difference between needing help, and just being plain ole' lazy.

"You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him find it for himself." Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

PSXBOY - The target Tivo has been sleeper'd but does not have any hold-over/scrambled recordings. Sounds like I can swap the DC_key and leave it on the target one since all the scrambled recordings would be coming from the other unit.

PlainBill - I've run some general diagnostics on it using SeaTools (free from Seagate that works on all hard-drives regardless of manufacturer). The 40gb original drive (maxtor) reported no major problems. I left the surface scan running over night for the Western Digital but didn't get a chance to check the results as of this morning.

I may try to sleeper it, move off the desired shows I want to save, then start from scratch with that unit.

SeaTools reported nothing wrong with my B drive (WD-120gb/not 80 as I previously stated). For the A drive (Maxtor 40gb original) it found errors. So I decided to try and copy the A+B drives to the 160gb WD I had as the only drive in my other working DTivo. Wouldn't work as it said the target drive was too small.

So I downloaded Maxtor's PowerMax tools and it too reported errors on the A drive. Said I could attempt to fix them and I went ahead with it. It reported back quickly that the errors had been fixed. I put the drives back in and it was working perfectly. Fast response times again and prevoiusly recorded show was playing smoothly. But after about 3 minutes the remote buttons wouldn't work. Then the thing crashed and rebooted itself and gave me a green screen saying that a severe error had occurred. Please leave the unit on and connected to a phone line for the next 3 hours as it attempts to "repair itself". Said not to shut it off or reboot it. If still not working after 3 hours call this number.

SeaTools reported nothing wrong with my B drive (WD-120gb/not 80 as I previously stated). For the A drive (Maxtor 40gb original) it found errors. So I decided to try and copy the A+B drives to the 160gb WD I had as the only drive in my other working DTivo. Wouldn't work as it said the target drive was too small.

So I downloaded Maxtor's PowerMax tools and it too reported errors on the A drive. Said I could attempt to fix them and I went ahead with it. It reported back quickly that the errors had been fixed. I put the drives back in and it was working perfectly. Fast response times again and prevoiusly recorded show was playing smoothly. But after about 3 minutes the remote buttons wouldn't work. Then the thing crashed and rebooted itself and gave me a green screen saying that a severe error had occurred. Please leave the unit on and connected to a phone line for the next 3 hours as it attempts to "repair itself". Said not to shut it off or reboot it. If still not working after 3 hours call this number.

I reckon it is hosed now?

Don't be such a pessimist; it doesn't suit you. Your experience is similar to mine, except I have a single 120 Gig Western Digital drive. Both quick and advanced W-D diagnostics indicated there was no problem with the drive (in spite of the fact TiVo was reporting a read error). When I placed the drive in the TiVo and booted it, I got an error, it restarted, then gave me the same green screen you described. Rather than watch the green screen for three hours, I let it run with the TV off. Three hours later I turned on the TV, and the TiVo was working perfectly.

So be patient, and see if it is able to repair the MFS database before you panic.

PlainBill

There's a difference between needing help, and just being plain ole' lazy.

"You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him find it for himself." Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)